Tempting Fate
by Nittles
Summary: All it takes is one moment for the walls of your life to come crashing down.
1. One

**A/N: New Fic Woo! You may notice that the latter part of this chapter is very similiar to one of the chapter's in my previous fic "You Were Always Forgiven!" Just thought I'd let you know that if you recognised it, it was previously mine to use :P**

"There's nothing more we can do for him," the doctor addressed her calmly. It was his job to deliver the bad news to anxious family and friends as they paced up and down the corridors drinking cups of coffee from the cheap vending machine in the waiting area. This was his job, he was not personally tied to the patient, and he will not become personally tied with the family sitting in front of him. "I will leave you for a few moments so I can find his personal file and we'll discuss all the necessary procedures."

The doctor took one final look at the two women sitting in front of him before rising slowly, offering a sympathetic nod of his head in their direction as he left.

"They'll want to switch off his life support machine." Catherine drew a shaky breath as she dared contemplate the fate that awaited her father as he lay lifeless and machine bound in the room next door.

"It's not over yet," Ruth whispered. She knew she was clinging on to false hope that the man she had dared to love from afar for several years was able to perform such a miracle that he could defy all the odds and recover from the coma the doctors knew he would never awake from. She knew this was impossible, but this was Harry they were talking about, and Harry was a fighter.

"You just heard what the doctor said, there's nothing they can do for him!" Catherine cried hysterically, adamantly refusing Ruth's attempts to draw her into a hug. Catherine rose to her feet and turned to face the older woman, anger and frustration flashing across her features. "Of course it's over, he's about to die! One of us has to be realistic."

Catherine stormed out the room without saying another word, the slam of the door enough to make Ruth succumb to the tears that had threatened to fall. Heartache seemed to like her.

**Three Weeks Ago**

_As Ruth approached Harry's office he emerged, looking mildly panicked and heading towards the pods. The look of confusion on her face must have shown as he justified his actions immediately._

_"I'm going down there now..."_

_"No, no, no to do what?" Her face suddenly turned to panic and her voice began to tremble._

_"To speak to whoever is pretending to be in charge"_

_"Harry, there's not enough time," Ruth was becoming more urgent in trying to persuade Harry to stay. He was only putting himself in the direct line of danger and she had already lost him several times before. It wasn't going to happen again. "You won't be able to achieve anything."_

_Harry was too engrossed with his mobile phone to note the look of terror evident on Ruth's face. He carried on regardless of her pleading._

_"Get me the met commander on the ground."_

_"I've just spoken to him, it's chaos down there, nobody seems to know who's in charge, the, the Americans are, are talking about a security incident and they're clearing the lobby!"_

_Harry tore his eyes away from his mobile to face Ruth. Only then did the look of unease on his face become apparent to her._

_"The British home secretary and the Pakistani president are still inside that building and we can't actually move in and get them out?_

_He searched her eyes desperately for an answer. The Americans were making life difficult, his most reliant officers were in immediate danger and he knew if he didn't act fast there would be serious consequences that could lead to an all out nuclear war. Tariq's sudden outburst didn't help ease Harry's edginess._

_"I can't get hold of either Lucas or Ros"_

_He looked at Ruth again before making his decision._

_"Get me a car now," he ordered as he turned his back and made his way into the pods._

_"Harry," Ruth said forcefully, the look of worry suddenly emerging again._

_Harry turned round to face her briefly before turning on his heel and marching through the pods._

**More to come! You know what to do ;)**


	2. Two

**A/N: Sorry for the really long delay, exams and all that jazz have taken over my life right now. Another chapter for you, I just want to clarify that anything in italic is what has happened prior to the present. It just saves me writing "three weeks ago" every chapter! **

"I thought you might like this," Catherine mumbled softly as she handed out a cup of steaming coffee ready for Ruth to take. Ruth smiled her thanks and took the cup carefully, before taking a tentative sip and putting it on the table beside her.

"They said they've done everything they can do speed up his recovery," Ruth spoke quietly as she stared at the wall opposite. She saw Catherine nod out of the corner of her eye. "Everything else is up to Harry; it's up to his brain and natural defences now."

Catherine breathed a sigh of relief before taking a sip of her own drink.

"So hope's not lost?"

Ruth smiled.

"It appears not."

-x-

"_What's going on?" Harry pushed himself past the police that had sealed off and the area and approached the man Ruth had told him was leading it all on the ground._

"_We're not too sure," the man replied calmly. "I hear you have two officers in there trying to rescue the home secretary?"_

_Harry scowled._

"_Believe it or not they're in there to try and save everybody. Spies can't discriminate."_

_The man laughed._

"_Perhaps not, but it doesn't mean they wouldn't."_

_Harry thrust his hands into his pocket._

"_So what do you we do?"_

"_We hope the bomb disposal squad get here on time, or we hope that your disciples manage to stop anything going disastrously wrong in there."_

_Harry was tempted to tell the man next to him where to stick his ideas, but thought better against it. He took one glance up at the building in front of him, and the bustles of people who were daring themselves to get close enough to the building to try and see if they could do anything at all. He toyed with getting his phone out and calling the grid, calling Ruth, but he felt sick to his stomach. Striding forward, he knew what he had to do._


	3. Three

**I just want to clarify (again) that anything in italic (post the – marker) is what has happened prior to the present. It just saves me writing "three weeks ago" every chapter! **

* * *

Ruth sat quietly in the waiting area, holding a cold cup of coffee in her hands. She'd spend the last hour or so watching Catherine sleep on the chair beside her, so lost in her tranquillity that she had almost forgotten the reason she was at the hospital in the first place.

The hustle and bustle of doctors running down the corridor broke Ruth from her reverie. Her inquisitive nature got the better of her, and Ruth placed the abandoned coffee carefully on the table in front of her before rising to her feet and heading to the exit. When she got close enough to hear snippets of conversation her blood ran cold. _'Room 304,' 'patient crashing,' 'Pearce,' 'the attending has commenced emergency CPR.'_

* * *

_Ten minutes later, Harry had finally managed to worm his way in into the lobby. He fished for his mobile phone before pulling it triumphantly out of his pocket and dialling an all too familiar number._

"_Harry?" _

"_Ruth, this needs to be quick," Harry checked his watch as he hissed down the mouthpiece. _

"_Right." The quiver in Ruth's voice didn't go unnoticed. Harry lifted his gaze towards the ceiling squeezing his eyelids shut and sighing quietly as he did so. _

"_Have the bomb disposal squad arrived yet?" _

"_Er," Ruth faltered slightly as she scanned all the surveillance footage. "It doesn't appear so."_

"_Damn it!" _

"_Harry?"_

"_Ruth, I'm in the lobby. Comms are down so I'm going to try and help get as many people out as possible before this building ends up a pile of rubble." A slight pause. "How long do you reckon we have?"_

"_A couple of minutes, maximum." Ruth was close to becoming hysterical. _

_She took several deep breaths before spinning her chair around so she was facing Tariq. Tariq nodded to confirm her estimate. _

"_Don't worry, Ruth." Harry growled. "We'll do what we..."_

"_Harry?" Ruth frantically tried calling him back as the line went dead, but to no avail."Voicemail, damn it! Tariq, why did that hap..."_

_Ruth watched in horror as Tariq combed his hand through his hair, staring open mouthed at his computer screen.  
_

"_There's been an explosion." _


	4. Four

Ruth ignored the stitch that was digging in her side as she raced along with the crowd in the direction of Harry's room. It felt like eternity, but she could soon hear the frantic sounds of the medical staff and equipment as they worked relentlessly to try and shock Harry's body back to life. She tried to fight her way through the crowd to get closer to his side but found herself being stopped by a strong pair of hands clamped down on her shoulders.

"You can't go in there, lady." The doctor told her firmly, tightening his grip as he felt her try and struggle against him.

"You don't understand," she cried frantically. "I _need_ to be in there with him."

"Please, Ms. Evershed. They're doing everything they can for him right now." The doctor remained calm, and Ruth soon found herself running out of energy.

She stood and listened to the noises emitting from the room. Her eyes were closed, and she found herself begging absolutely anything and everything for him to pull through. He was a fighter, and he couldn't fight if he wasn't breathing.

It wasn't until she felt somebody squeeze her shoulders that she realised the Doctor had stayed with her throughout the ordeal. She turned to face him and he smiled reassuringly at her.

"Maybe you should go and wake his daughter," he urged her. "She needs to be informed of the situation."

Ruth nodded feebly and reluctantly allowed her feet to move her away from the place she so desperately wanted to be.

Catherine stirred groggily as she felt somebody shaking her a little too violently.

"Hmph," she mumbled and turned her head to try and get comfortable once more.

"Catherine," the voice was persistent. "Please, Catherine. You need to wake up."

Her body shook once more, and fed up of being interrupted she slowly opened her eyes. She stared at Ruth for a few seconds before absent mindedly wiping drool from the corner of her mouth. There was something about the way Ruth was looking at her that unnerved her.

"What?"

Ruth shuffled on the spot and grabbed Catherine's hand.

"It's your dad."

Catherine jumped from her seat in an instant, swaying slightly as she tried to get her balance. Her legs were a little wobbly from her awkward sleeping session.

The trip to Harry's room seemed a lot quicker the second time round. It had nothing to do with the fact that Catherine had virtually sprinted down the corridors, with Ruth trailing behind desperately trying to keep up.

Catherine skidded to a halt by the door to his room, her hand frozen on her doorknob. Ruth finally made it to the younger woman's side and followed her gaze. Her jaw dropped and her head shook in disbelief. No words were exchanged between the pair, but Ruth gently leant across Catherine and put her hand on the woman's in order to gently push the door open.

Catherine turned to face the woman next to her, who gently nodded for her to enter despite the tears that were swimming in her eyes. Ruth closed the door quietly behind her and leant against it heavily. She didn't want to watch the scene that was about to play out in front of her but she knew that she couldn't leave the younger woman to her own devices. She needed support.

"He's..." Catherine's voiced cracked as she turned to face Ruth, desperation etched across her features as she looked for confirmation.

Ruth couldn't bring herself to speak, instead opting for a simple nod of the head and a quick rub of the eyes. She couldn't see clearly.

Catherine let out a broken sob before her whole body started to shake from the force of her tears. Ruth was at her side in an instant, rubbing her hand up and down the woman's back and ushering words of comfort and reassurance. This was short lived, however, as Ruth soon found herself joining in, the sounds of their sobbing the only noise that penetrated the once lively room.


End file.
